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A Good Person (2023)

A Good Person (2023)

An overlong, tonally mismatched addiction drama that not even Florence Pugh can truly save

5.5

Movie

Canada, United Kingdom
English, Turkish
Comedy, Drama
2023
ZACH BRAFF
Alex Wolff, Brian Rojas, Celeste O'Connor
128 min

TLDR

Don't be fooled by the Morgan Freeman narration: A Good Person is not A Good Movie.

What it's about

Reeling from her involvement in a fatal car accident, a young woman falls into opioid addiction while grappling with her guilt.

The take

Playing the lead in an addiction drama has long been shorthand for “I’m a serious actor,” but that’s not something Florence Pugh needs to convince us of, especially not when the drama is as contrived as A Good Person is. Though it has a solid foundation from which to explore worthy subjects — Pugh’s character Allison begins abusing painkillers after accidentally causing the death of two people in a car accident —  writer-director Zach Braff overstuffs the film with too many distractingly histrionic happenings for a compelling reflection on guilt and forgiveness to really emerge.

What’s more, any potential A Good Person has is squandered by the film’s frequent and bizarre tonal swerves from tearjerking sincerity to generational comedy, a jarring effect mimicked by the soundtrack’s wild veering from moody melodies to bright piano music in a single cut. Though Pugh does her customary excellent work here, she’s ultimately undermined by all the overlong, transparently manufactured, and downright whiplash-inducing melodrama around her.

What stands out

Though she’s joined by a host of other stellar actors — among them Morgan Freeman as the father of one of the victims and Molly Shannon as Allison’s mother — Pugh is undoubtedly the best thing about A Good Person. While the movie ultimately never transcends the flaws of its writing, it’s undeniable proof of her ability to single-handedly elevate a film out of her gutter, as her performance magics some complexity and sincerity out of a generic and cliché-ridden screenplay.

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